Today's News

Dogs aren’t allowed in the Roane County Courthouse unless they are assisting a disabled person.
State Rep. Julia Hurley found that out recently when she brought her pedigreed Chinese crested into the building.
It’s a tiny, mostly hairless breed with a long, lion-like mane.
“It kind of caught me off guard to see a dog walking in the middle of the courthouse,” Roane County Executive Ron Woody said.
Woody responded by asking security to remove the dog.
That didn’t sit well with Hurley.

With grant opportunities scarce, the Temperance Building committee in Harriman is thinking of a new approach for funding preservation efforts.
The committee is going to turn into a nonprofit to seek private money, said Mike Demyanovich.
The Temperance Building held the first offices of the East Tennessee Land Co., which was responsible for land sales in the city’s birth as a Prohibition-era utopia. It later became the home of the American Temperance University.
Demyanovich said the needed work at the Temperance Building would cost about $1.5 million.

The tornado outbreaks a couple of Fridays back left a lot of us with a bad case of nerves — but mine was a little different.
As I headed home to pack for a dash to my boyfriend’s house in Hamilton County, I began to feel an annoying itch on my neck.
I looked in the mirror and could see blotchy red spots rising. I made a mental note not to scratch, threw my bags in the car and did my best to dodge storms as I headed south.

Eighth-graders got a taste of what it’s like to be a college student during a daylong visit to Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus.
The “College Student for a Day” event on March 7 involved 70 students.
They participated in an orientation session, class rotations and a variety of hands-on activities that highlighted college programs.

A grand jury recently indicted eight people on sale and delivery of Schedule II narcotics.
So far, six of those suspects have been taken into custody according to Rockwood Police Investigator Josh Rymer.
Rymer said the majority of the cases involved the sale of Oxycodone.

By KENT FLANAGAN
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government
It’s Sunshine Week in America, the one week of the year celebrated by news organizations and open government advocates about keeping government honest.
Watchdogs of the Fourth Estate have made it their duty to report on the actions taken by local, state and federal government. And the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, or TCOG, was created to preserve and improve access to public information.

Gentle reader, as you have listened to former Mass. Gov. Romney, tell us all how he is going to cure all of the maladies from which he perceives the body politic to be suffering, has it ever struck you that under our Constitution, laws, and precedents, no one can make all these things happen without summarily seizing, confiscating, or otherwise taking over every aspect of private enterprise currently existing in our great republic?

Aaron Woody of Kingston has been nominated to represent Tennessee as a national youth correspondent to the 2012 Washington Journalism and Media Conference at George Mason University on July 8-13.

Woody, a student at Midway High School, has been awarded the opportunity to join a select group of 250 students from across the country to participate in an intensive weeklong study of journalism and media.

He was chosen based on academic accomplishments and a demonstrated interest and excellence in journalism and media studies.